Are Total Body Scanners Safe? The Jury Is Still Out
by Dr. Elaina GeorgeA few weeks ago we were told that CT scans and mammograms can increase the risk of cancer. Since the rush to deploy the new total body scanners in our airports has been a topic of hot debate. There has been a burning question that has not been answered that needs to be. If CT scans and mammograms are no longer considered safe, what makes the total body scanners safe to use?
The technology used in the full body scanners is either backscatter x-ray or millimeter waves . Both use a form of radiation call terahertz photons (T-rays). T-rays are a form of infrared energy that lies between radio waves at the low-end and microwaves at its higher end. It may be non-ionizing unlike x-rays; however, the energy is able to penetrate tissue, clothing, paper, plastic, wood and ceramics among other things.
The TSA website represents the full body scanner as a safe method of screening. However, not only are we giving up our privacy, we are also playing Russian roulette with our safety. It is important to note:
1. No long term safety tests have been conducted on these scanners
2. The energy produced by T-rays gives off heat and lies close to the laser range.
Because of this, there is a question about how safe these machines would be in the
hands of individuals who may not be as well trained as a radiology technician.
(Theoretically there may be damage associated with prolonged thermal exposure.)
3. Alexandrov et al. at Los Alamos National Laboratory theorized that the
thermal energy given off by T-rays can damage DNA
By unwinding or unzipping the double helix strands of DNA. This could possibly lead
to mutations as the DNA attempts to repair itself.
It is clear that the rush to deploy these machines may put the public at unacceptable risk. The questions about safety for pregnant women, children, and the possibility of increased cancer risk need to be answered before these machines are put into place. It simply is not clear whether the risks are outweighed by the stated benefits.
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57 Comments
I think I'll elect for a pat down just so I can annoy them.
You mean that 8 yrs. after 9/11 that they still have not tested & built a 100% safe & viable scanner to detect for explosives? If this is the case why are we not training dogs for explosives & posting 10-15 of them in airports across the US. Everyone walking through to a secure area should be screened as well as random screenings around the airports. It would cost far less & I'd have a dog sniffing me then using a machine that might give me a brain tumor. Use what works until the technology is accepted by the populus & fool-proof.
This is so stupid. So what you stop the guys from flying they are just going to look at another way to attack the US. The solution is to hunt them down before they have the chance to commit a crime.
In '73 a terrorist tried to hijack an Isreali airline plane. The pilot pulled a gun, shot him, had the stewardess (now called flight attendants) open the door, threw the corpse onto the tarmac, radioed the tower that the emergency was over and asked for takeoff clearance, and ran over the corpse (it was a 707 weighing about 450,000 lbs.) as he rolled out. LIKE IT!!!! You don't hear much about problems with Isreali airlines. They use these types of scanners, dogs, pat downs, profiling and when all else fails…they use GUNS!
The best response to the new terrorist threats are Complex Adaptable Systems. Large numbers of people who are capable to react instantly to a threat.
"Cycling back to terrorism, the elite planner’s response to threats like underwear bombs is to build elaborate but increasingly brittle security systems in which airline passengers are involved only as victims. The CAS response would be to arm the passengers, concentrate on fielding bomb-sniffers so cheap that hundreds of thousands of civilians can carry one, and pay bounties on dead terrorists."
-http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=1551
I have had serious questions about this issue myself.
I so agree with colasguy above. We have to subject ourselves to a device that could possibly mutate our DNA? What impact would that have on future generations that are procreated afte the body got T-Rayed by the parent?
This adminsitration is putting an alarm system on the empty barn after they let the horses runaway!! We need a leader, a CIC who has respect from the rest of the world. Not some pussified, namby pamby manchild who can't bow low enough to other leaders!!!! What disgusting crap.
For starters, get rid of all the Jihadist training camps here on our own soil. How stupid is it to let them train terrorists here because CAIR holds the congressmen by the short hairs for diversity and political correctness?
There isn't one politician that has the balls to stand up and say "enough is enough" and lead the charge. The Libtards have taken over and everyone is supposed to toe the line or what? They'll get Jodie the treasonous pink commie to "cleanse" us? Sorry, but this is unfreakingbelievable.
Next you'll see Obama invite the terrorists to a WH beer summit and have the Code Pink freaks mediate.
Why is it so fashion able to punish the innocent for the actions of the criminal? Safety? What is safe? We all accept risk, by merely living and if you want live in a bubble wrap world then wrap yourself in bubble wrap and leave me alone. We have a no fly list and observational clues, let’s use reason for protection and let me keep my clothes on.
Despite all these measures I believe the politically incorrect process of profiling becomes all the more necessary where public safety is concerned. If these people don't wish to be offended then they should simply stay home. The fact remains that the majority of such crimes are committed by Muslims and until that changes additional scrutiny of Muslims should be standard procedure. Plain and simple. Perhaps when enough Muslims have been insulted and inconvenienced they might begin to speak out against these terrorists instead of praising them.
Are total body scanners safe? Good question! (Can the TSA check for cancerous tumors while they're at it?)
If these machines can possibly change your DNA, what about someone with a pacemaker? Can these machines see inside of the body to tell if they have swallowed a device or worse yet, placed the explosive inside the vagina or anal cavities. How are we going to get that checked out? Will you sit by while a bomb sniffing dog smells everyone's crouch and buttocks area for a bomb?
Sure more people die from bee stings and being struck by lightning when compared to getting eaten by sharks. I have already survived one aircraft crash and I will not be going thru another. At least when I am driving to a destination I can see and avoid dangerous areas and people without pissing off some politically correct idiot saying I am a racist for thinking the way I am thinking of Muslim foreigners. I will keep these thoughts until Muslims change and start identifying these people so that we can remove them before they are endangering innocent people. Name one time,someone from the Muslim world has condemned this attack or any others?
Are Moooooooooosloms safe? The jury is in. [If Mooooooooooslims hate America, why are they here? Just "axing".]
I see these scanners as one more possible device the terrorist can use against us.
What would happen if one or more of these scanners was blown up in a crowded airport, who said terrorist just want to blow plains up in the air, what kind of chemicals would be released and their reactions if components are exposed to air, water from sprinkler systems or fire hoses, other chemicals, electrical sparks, extreme heat &/or heavy concision?
What is the short term & long term effects of such exposure?
What type of protective gear would Emergency Services/First Responders need to enter an exposed area?
What type of decon procedures would needed to be taken before treating the injured?
As I look at it, terrorists are cheap, they want the most bang for their buck so if they can use the surrounding environment in their favor, they will.
No big deal! I'm going out for a swine flu shot…
Wonder if they will start giving away frequent "fryer" miles now?
I love the thinking behind that type of strategy. These terrorists look at the American people as weak & our military a paper tiger. They need some kind of shock & awe. We haven't given them any reason to think their same old strategies won't work. They want to die so let's oblige them. We will send them back to whatever country they came from for burial face down covered in pig's blood. Maybe we will let them know we'll start burying all the dead insurgents in pig pen's.
I believe this may be yet another over-reaction by some scientist wanting to get a grant to fund studies on this subject. T-waves are lower energy than infra-red and nearly in the radio-wave category. The energy in these waves is significantly lower than that of sunlight… which DOES do DNA damage all the time.
While I can appreciate the concern for the unknown, I think the more significant problems with these scanners is there inability to detect liquids and powders as reported by several sites. If the purpose is to detect attacks like the Christmas bombing attempts, this is NOT the solution as it would have also missed detecting the bomb. Now more common sense solutions like, perhaps NOT letting them on the plane if there FATHER warns our own intelligence agencies well ahead of time would be a much better start.
Ok, this post is just so full of scientific inaccuracy that I, a person with only a high school level of physics, can spot the errors, the biggest being Point 2: "2. The energy produced by T-rays gives off heat and lies close to the laser range."
First off, of course it gives off heat, it's an form of electromagnetic radiation near infrared rays. This is a known property of light in that spectrum (and yes, it is a form of light), it's part of how the sun heats the earth and how heat lamps work.
However, the bigger error here is the claim that it's "closer to the laser range." First off, it's "LASER," second off, there is not a "laser range." LASER stands for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation, it's a technique. Any frequency of light can be made into a laser, from the visible red-light LASERs that most people think of, to Microwave LASERs (sometimes called MASERs) all the way to the opposite side of the electromagnetic spectrum with X-ray LASERs. This is because all a LASER is is a way of focusing and concentrating electromagnetic radiation, not a section of the EM spectrum. Saying it's "near the range used for LASERs" is just blatant fear-mongering, and frankly region of light associated with LASERs is perfectly safe. What is dangerous about LASERs isn't the region in the EM spectrum it lies (unless your a Democrat, after all, they seem to fear us Red State folks), it's the intensity. It's like the difference between touching someone and hitting them, or the difference in how loud noises can damage things.
For people who want to find out more, the wikipedia article on the matter (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terahertz_radiation) is pretty good.
I feel sorry for folks who think the picture at the top is what the people using the scanner actually see. It's not. The scanner essentially takes a black and white picture of a person completely naked. What the media has been showing us is an over-exposed (pardon the pun) version of the actual image. When Drudge had the picture of the woman on his page the other day, it still failed to show the truth.
This is what the Drudge image actually looks like before it's been adjusted:
http://tomasestradapalma4today.blogspot.com/2010/...
I know folks tried to rationalize the government's warrantless wiretapping, but somehow I don't think the whole "why are you worried if you've got nothing to hide?" defense will work with this one.
The answer is to fly naked. BUT, then, knowing my luck, I'd be assigned to sit next to Janet Napolitano. OMG! No thanks. I'll take the bus.
Now there's a security system I can support.
Somebody's going to make a fortune selling T-Ray proof underwear.
Aside from the medical issues related to these scanner (which is in fact a valid point to at least discuss) there's NO WAY IN HELL I'm going to submit to being scanned by one of those things. The moron fathead TSA guys are already borderline with their "wanding". I'm not about to do the equivalent of a strip show for a bunch of cads. If they make these mandatory that's the end of me flying ever again.
All concerns of privacy aside… these systems still won't make air flight secure. You can slip things through in carry on luggage quite easily not to mention there are ways to fool even these scanners. I've seen the luggage "experts" not even watch the darn screen! I was on a trip to Denver once and watched the TSA morons. The two luggage monitors sat there talking to each other the entire time and didn't even look at the screen once. My luggage could have had all sorts of firearms and explosives in plain view and they wouldn't have even noticed. I know I feel SOOO secure with TSA on the job.
So… what happens when you fly nudie and the person next to you is so big that he or she sucks up part of -your- chair?
Sorry, but I had to mention that.
It's one of the reasons I don't fly coach anymore. I'm pretty tiny so flying coach isn't necessarily terrible for me. However, I had one flight where I got stuck in the middle seat. Things were fine until the two passengers on either side of me ended up being huge obese guys. When they finally sat down they were both in MY seat. They of course were nice and let me have the aisle but still….
I have similiar concerns including pacemakers and other surgical procedures where devices are placed into the body for medical reasons. How will women that have ungone mastectomies and reconstructive surgery be viewed and treated? How will women/girls that are dealing with "that time of the month" be viewed and treated? Once again, the government targets the innocent instead of focusing on getting the terrorist(s) before they commit their heinous crimes. Start by profiling and get over the whole pc crap.
Is this tech dangerous? Maybe but I am sure that Obama does not know or care since they think this will be a major step in isolating the fruit-loops from their tactics long enough for them to lose interest.
Well good luck with that, the Virgin Hunters have an unlimited selection of delivery mechanisms, Airlines being only of them.
If we ever harden air travel enough to make it unfeasible for the Islamist-nut-jobs to subvert they will simply switch to driving fuel trucks into the sides of high rises at 10am – what then walls around all high rises?
They just can't admit to themselves that being nice Islamist that think blowing stuff up is the way to paradise will never work.
This could possibly lead to mutations as the DNA attempts to repair itself
We need to take this seriously; this has happened before, and the effects are horrifying. Ever see a picture of Nancy Pelosi?
Almost as stupid as randomly bombing foreign countries in the name of "safety." Neocons are the enemy. Ship them off to Israel since they like it so much.
El Al just conducts interviews with people who want to get on the plane…..so far, so good for them, they don't let the terrorists on the plane in the first place and haven't had any problems.
Do they "profile"? Probably.
Does it work? Yeah….seems to.
Do they rifle through your luggage? Yep.
Do they let "others" do security for their flights? Nope.
Is there a chance you can get on a flight without a passport by bribing someone at the airport? Nope — again, they do their own security.
Not all the Muslims are terrorists, but it just so happens all the terrorists involving airplanes are Muslim. We got "lilly white" converts here too, so let's screen everyone the old school proven way, and do something other then security theater.
I'm sure they'll move on to softer targets once they figure out airplanes are a no go. We'll let the dems and the Lutherans figure out if a carry permit and a coherent immigration policy is a good idea after a bunch of them get shot at the local mall.
These scanners are a major breach of privacy for passengers.
Let the DOGS OUT……..
Cheaper and more effective with an added benefit……….
Jihadist Muslim Extremist hate dogs………especially BLACK DOGS.
A quick thought; Aren't Muslim men who see a naked woman, not their wife, obliged to kill themselves? I'm not Muslim but it the naked woman was Janet Napolitano, I'd off myself anyway.
I was wondering when people were going to start mentioning the question of health effects. All you have to do with some folks is throw out the word "radiation" and all bets are off.
The most important question is are the scanners effective? I don't care if they have a tiny health risk if they keep underwear bombers off planes.
I'm okay with scanners, and I'm especially okay with profiling, but we also need to look at the root causes that motivate jihadists, such as:
Sexual Depravity Breeds Savage Jihadists
http://jeffersonsrebels.blogspot.com/2010/01/sexu...
What everyone is missing is this is intimately linked with Obamacare. See, they'll hire radiologists as TSA screeners and we'll get a free health screening with every flight. Got to find those cost savings.
You know this is how the X-Men really came into being.
Only if you are willing to give up your peanuts.
My husband puts all of his dirty underwear on the top of his luggage. He takes his wedding vows seriously. He promised me that nobody would from that day forward enjoy rifling around his unmentionables but me. It makes me giggle every time he repeats that.
Because the libs are too afraid to profile muslims, everybody else has to be zapped with a laser and is inconvenienced. This PC is considered a win for the muslims and Islam.
It's obvious that male employees aren't going to be scanning the female travelers.
But will they protect the privacy of people by not allowing homosexuals to ogle people of the same sex?
Drug sniffing pigs.
Makes me think of the wonderful advancement that shoe stores had years ago when they would x-ray the little kid's feet for the perfect fit in shoe. Do we really have to go down that road again?? geez. Astrid
You want to stop bad guys? Let us carry pistols on airplanes (up to 9mm or something). Our gov doesn't stop terrorists… WE DO! They're too inept!
I'm going to Cancun later this month… Does Ronald Reagan Airport have these scanners??? I will be electing for a pat down just because I can.
Fed Gov wants to add 10% tax to tanning beds because they're so bad, but submitting us to these machines is ok….? Double standard?
Of course not. That would be politically incorrect.
angryracistsayswhat?
A correction to your article – THz is above microwave frequencies, but below infrared (rather than between radio and microwave, as stated.) Also, the mean free path of THz energy is quite short in water. That means that the energy won't go very deep into your skin (which has lots of water in it), although it goes through dry clothing quite well. The military already has a millimeter wave device (slightly lower frequency) that causes a burning sensation on the skin, but does no tissue damage. That device needs lots of power to work – far more than would be needed for an airport scanner. THz may not have had much safety testing, but we have good reasons to expect the technology to be safe. Are you worried about your cell phone?
i bet JNET wears boys buster browns high tops…..
Thank you, Dr. George for bringing up this subject. I, too, was asking this question and until now, no one had considered it. It doesn't seem as if frequent flyers would be safe if they are required to submit to this screening each time they fly. Please, keep us informed as to the safety of these devices.
The government should follow through with the rules they have set in place. It would also be wise to profile. It is not smart to be politically correct and take a chance on losing lives. It looks like people are losing their good sense. I don't have much confidence in our government doing anything right.
Thank you for your information wwm.
Personally, I would prefer more testing . This technology would not have been capable of detecting powder, so it would not have been effective in idenifiying the panty bomber on Christmas. I don' think there is enough information to determine whether the benefits outweigh the risks.
If you add in all of our daily EMF exposures through hings like cell phones you have to wonder if there is a tipping point. Yes it is a small amount of exposure, but what if the cumulative exposure is harmfull?
An article by Mathew Wald staed that "A 2002 report from the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements which is highly influential in setting regulatory standards, said it “cannot exclude the possibility of a fatal cancer attributable to radiation in a very large population of people exposed to very low doses of radiation.”
http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/AC/03/briefing/3...
Good overall site enjoyed reading will def bookmark.
You ignorant fools, before you go on with your Arab and Muslim bashing and cursing, and praising Israel for all its security wonders, go do some research on the subject. I am not so crazy about Muslims or Arabs myself, but fair is fair. If you want to fix the problem you should put aside your racist love of Israeli Jews and your racist hatred of Arabs, and consider the facts as they are. The company that ran the security on the airports allegedly used by the alleged hijacker of 9/11 false flag operation was an Israeli airport security company with direct ties with the Bush family and the Israeli government. The same Israeli company also ran the security for the airport used in this new False Flag operation, which apparently allowed the "underpants bomber" to get on-board the US bound flight –>without a Passport<–!!! The person in charge of US Homeland security department was Mr. Chertoff, who is an Israeli, and who just happens to be the spokesman for the airport body scanners company. Look at who is in charge and who is making money and gaining political power out of the incident. For several years they had this technology and they kept saying that because of its health hazards and privacy issues we can't get it approved to be used in airports They said somehow we need to figure out a way to make people accept the health hazards and forgo the privacy issues. Well obviously the Israelis finally figured out a possible way to do it.
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Back in the 1960 and early 70's US airlines had US security agents on board every flight and their were NO highjackings until in the late 1970's when they were taken off the airlines. Far as body scanners? NO I will not subject myself or my children to such crap just because I want to go on vacation travel or take a flight for what every reason. I don't trust TNA with a full body scan no more than I trust them searching my bags out of my sight.
My Body is MY property! " IF YOU ARE WILLING TO SACRIFICE FREEDOM AND PRIVACY FOR A SENSE OF SECURITY, THEN YOU DESERVE NEITHER"
You have thousands of times more of a chance of getting killed in a auto accident than you do being on a airplane during a highjacking. All this so-called Nanny state protection and the borders are still WIDE OPEN! Hmmmm….whats wrong with this picture!
[...] or not you’re wearing a diaper full of C4. By the way, scientists aren’t sure of the medical side effects that may occur to those lucky enough to be singled out for a scan on their way to [...]
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